These late autumn days are the perfect time to entice local and migratory birds to your yard. I have it on my calendar to clean out the birdfeeders this weekend and re-stock our supplies. And while we might get a better deal at Petsmart, we're heading to the local, family-owned Wild Birds Unlimited. The service and knowledge there is unbeatable. (I remember Elizabeth wrote an amazing post on this company last summer - including all kinds of excellent bird study ideas.)
Today it all started with some stale toast. I was thinking about tossing it out for the birds, when I thought - why not make it a bit more interesting?
So just after lunch, we set up our spread:
Here we have peanut butter, wheat toast, raisins, black oil sunflower seed, and sliced almonds. (The pretzels were for us - they make great dippers - though not in the seed, of course.) The shaped objects are comfort-grip cookie cutters. (True confession: I am addicted to cookie cutters.)
After cutting the toast into shapes with the cutters, we spread it generously with peanut butter. (I think you could use jam or fruit butter instead, if peanut allergies are an issue.) Then the boys set to work decorating the toast shapes with all the bird friendly fixin's. Lastly, I poked a hole in the toast (using the business end of a meat thermometer - you may opt to use a wooden skewer or toothpick) and then threaded a pipe cleaner through the hole.
Our treats all prepared, we bundled into our sweatshirts, slipped on our sneakers and headed outside. It was an especially nice day to be out in the brisk autumn air - dark clouds racing across the sky, brightly colored leaves falling all around us. Gosh, do I love homeschooling ...
Anyway! We brought the goodies out to the feeding area and hung them from branches and feeders ...
And we've been glued to the windows all afternoon, camera in hand, waiting to see who the first takers will be. (I can almost bet it will be a bold little chickadee.) If we do get a picture, we'll be sure to post it!
This was a quick and easy project - no forethought was necessary - everything we used we had on hand. Birdwatching and feeding is a favorite pastime of ours, especially during the long cold winter - when we rely on the birds for their beauty as much as they rely on us for their food!
